PayPal expands partnerships with Citi and Chase to include reward points and more

PayPal today announced an expanded partnership with two of the largest bank issuers, Chase and Citibank. The agreements include a number of increased integrations between the companies, including easier access to Chase and Citibank cards in the PayPal wallet; permitting Chase and Citi customers to take advantage of cards’ rewards points anywhere PayPal is accepted; integrations with PayPal subsidiary, Braintree, and more.

In the expanded relationship with Citi, PayPal says Citi’s 14 million ThankYou Rewards cardholders will be able to redeem points at merchants that accept PayPal online and in-app. This will roll out in 2018, beginning with U.S. customers. PayPal notes this agreement alone has the potential of reaching millions of existing and new PayPal customers in the U.S.

Meanwhile, the partnership announced with JPMorgan Chase is more extensive, as Citi had already signed a deal similar to JPMorgan’s in December. PayPal says it will make it easier for Chase-issued cards to be added to PayPal accounts. This involves allowing PayPal users to add Chase cards to PayPal directly from Chase’s properties. And, when using PayPal, they’ll see a digital representation of their Chase card, making it easier to select it.

PayPal will also enable Chase as an acquirer for PayPal volume, including processing Chase card transactions via ChaseNet.

Plus, like Citi, the Chase agreement will enable rewards points to be used in PayPal’s network. In this case, Chase Ultimate Rewards Points will be accepted by online and mobile merchants starting in the U.S. in 2018.

Additionally, Chase Pay (Chase’s mobile payments solution) will be integrated with PayPal Wallet; and PayPal’s Braintree will also add Chase Pay as a method of payment for merchants.

The new agreements between PayPal with Chase and Citi follow on several other deals PayPal has made in recent months to partner – instead of compete – with payment industry players. This has included tie-ups with Visa and MasterCard, both here in the U.S. and abroad; as well as deals with financial institutions like Wells Fargo and Discover, financial services technology providers like FIS and First Data, and technology companies like Apple, Facebook, Google and Samsung, notes PayPal.

PayPal also hints that integrations with bank issuers like Chase will aid the company in its “forthcoming NFC mobile experience,” which involves using PayPal’s Wallet to compete in-store transactions. This is an area where PayPal has been losing ground to Apple Pay and others; it’s clear PayPal believes partnering is how it will gain increased traction at point of sale going forward.